10 Mascaras I Am Throwing Away For The New Year

The title of this post was initially ‘10 Makeup Products I Am Throwing Out For The New Year’, instead of one solely for mascaras. But as I rummaged through my mascara drawer, I easily grabbed 10 mascara tubes that have long been abandoned or have expired.

I’m a hoarder, as is my entire family, so my mum has such a hard time clearing out stuff during the annual house clean-up that we Chinese call ‘da sao chu’.

Decluttering can start anytime, from a month before Chinese New Year, to probably a week, depending on how much clutter you have and/or want to get rid of. People practise it due to the belief that cleaning sweeps away all the negative luck of the preceding year and invites good luck for the new year.

The first day of Chinese Lunar New Year 2012 falls on 23 January this year. It usually falls in late January or February as can be seen here, so 23 January is a little early which means I have to start cleaning up my messy table, wardbrobe and other territories soon!

Getting rid of old mascaras is a great start, isn’t it? =)

So here are the 10 mascaras I’m throwing out to welcome the new year!

Estee Lauder Sumptuous Waterproof Bold Volume Lifting Mascara

As sophisticated as it looks in its shiny, metallic exterior, this mascara doesn’t do all that it claims. Okie, maybe it does – some – but I had much higher expectations of this mascara. Other than being waterproof, the other claims are unfulfilled. Volume is bare, and so is lifting. On top of that, it isn’t as black as what I expect of mascaras.

This would make a good natural-looking lashes look, but I love mine dramatic and bold enough to not have to wear false eyelashes.

Pop Beauty Smokey Lash Kapow

I got this mascara during my very first trip to Sephora couple of years ago at Ion Orchard (*gasp! Why am I still keeping it???). I remember spending 3 hours in the store just walking up and down, from counter to counter, and back again, making my arms a crazy mess of colors, and walking out with a receipt of more than SGD300. :O

If I remember correctly, this Pop Beauty mascara costs SGD19 and I was excited to find a mascara at a reasonable price in Sephora. The SA recommended this mascara to me claiming that it volumizes and is such great value for its price.

Well, I’d say it’s not holy grail-material mascara, but it is a good, basic mascara for anyone to try out. It’s a great steal too!

Chanel Exceptionnel De Chanel

I was excited to try this out. I mean, it’s CHANEL! Which girl doesn’t find her heart beating a tad faster with Chanel? Just saying the name makes me feel so atas. Lol.

However, this mascara disappointed in every aspect. It’s highly likely I got a defective tube because when I opened it at home, instead of looking all glossy and ready to go, the wand looked like it had been used for months! Completely dry, it was impossible to coat my eyelashes with this mascara. I did try to apply some on, but it flaked on me and made the lashes clump. GAH!!! There was no thickening or lengthening of the lashes.

Fortunately, but also unfortunately, this was a gift so I couldn’t return it to the counter without a receipt. =(

The only good thing you’d get out of it is a really posh-looking makeup product on your dressing table.

Smashbox Layer Lash Primer

I use lash primers one tube at a time. The Smashbox Layer Lash Primer was my first ever lash primer and I must say, what a great difference it made!

If you have oily lids and eyelashes that point defiantly at the ground, then an eyelash mascara primer is a must! It helps to keep the curl longer than just curling with an eyelash curler, prolongs the wear of mascara, and acts as a shield to prevent/minimize smudging.

My second tube, Shiseido Nourishing Mascara Base is drying out, and I need to get a new one. Any recommendations? I’m thinking of getting the Dior DiorShow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum & Primer. Anyone tried that before?

The Face Shop Sparkling Diamond Mascara

I got this as substitute for the expensive Anna Sui Glitter Mascara I saw my friend wear.

Erm, please don’t waste your money on this.

Quite different from the picture, the glitter actually emerge from the tube in sporadic amounts, and only a few pathetic bits of glitter get on to the lashes. When it dries, the glitter gets all over the eye and you end up looking like you got your eye makeup all wrong.

MAC Zoom Lash Mascara

Don’t know how I managed to forget to take pictures of this mascara. You didn’t notice there were 9 mascara tubes instead of 10 in the top picture, did you? 😛

Anyhow, the MAC Zoom Lash mascara was a disappointment. This was the first MAC mascara I owned, and it has kept me skeptical of all MAC mascaras. It smudged terribly, made my lashes look clumpy, was too wet to hold any curl and dried up in less than a month! WOW!

Then again, Zoom Lash has its loyal following and found people repurchasing it. I’m just not one of them.

There! These 10 mascaras, a mixture of those that have served me well and those that were banished quite immediately after purchase, have got to go! Gotta make room for new stuff in the new year, please!

Which ones listed above have you tried before? How about sharing which top 3 mascaras made it to your list in 2011?